Wednesday's Assignment

Look for the opportunity to photograph a subject or scene in natural light today.  Pay careful attention to the exposure.

What exactly does that mean????  I tried to do a search on the term "exposure" but it doesn't get me any closer to an answer.  How would I know if I did what the assignment said?  What exactly am I looking for in the picture?  I obviously have used natural light but the rest is a blur (not literally of course).

I am so confused....

Tuesday's Assignment

Today's theme is the color green.  Make a photo dominated by green and post it.

Had to stage this one as I don't have a lot of green in our house- other than the dark green laminate on the kitchen counter.  But as I sit here and write I'm sure I could have found some alternatives.  Even as I was driving in to school today- green in the stoplight, green sign, green grass.  Even my kitchen walls have green ivy climbing up around the windows.  Ended up putting these towels together but couldn't get a good grasp of the green- dark, light and stripes.  So tried to colorize the photo in photoshop by using the filters in the style and effect menu.  Not sure I like the results but don't have a lot of time to experiment.

Monday's Assignment

Make a photograph today of something that produces a unique sound.  Try to communicate that sound to the viewer.

So of course I couldn't decide on which picture I wanted to use.  I spent some big bucks on the wind chime but I so like their melodic sounds.  I shot automatic this time because I couldn't get away from a dark picture.  I don't know if it was because I am under the roof line but even the automatic was rather dark.

Can you tell that the top is spinning?  I have to find some different locations in my house as most of my photos are taken on the tile floor in front of my sliding glass door.  I know there is a setting on the camera that shoots movement but I couldn't remember what it was.  I think this was taken in manual mode- had to do it quickly as every time the top started spinning the dog stuck his nose on it and then it would stop.  I guess I was lucky to get a photo without his big nose.

Sunday's Assignment

Sunday challenge: backlighting in a scene can create drama.  Make a photo with an interesting placement of backlit subjects.

Found this assignment rather difficult.  Still don't quite understand what backlighting means.  So am taking this picture without a flash and relying on a subject that is black.  Is that cheating?  Does that make the subject appear darker?  I did take one with a flash that improves on the clarity of the subject but not sure if I want to use it.  Can't you imagine me spinning this wheel?  Not!  It's an Airdyne and the resistance that it creates is virtually impossible to pedal against.  I can barely do 5 minutes on it.  Just goes to show that I am totally out of shape.

Saturday's Assignment

Sidewalks are great for people watching.  Make a photograph of a sidewalk scene today.

Everyone on my block stayed inside today and I was too busy to go looking elsewhere......feeble excuse but it's the best that I have.

Friday's Assignment

Think of a subject that starts with either "D" or "S".  Find it, and make a photo.

So many things that I could take a picture of.  Funny how these assignments get me thinking about the objects around me.  After I had the assignment to take a picture of something with a 90 or 45 degree, everything I saw after the fact had some kind of angle to it.  Of course, those objects were much more interesting than the one I chose.  And today- coming up with only one thing that begins with either of those letters!  So I opted just to do a picture of my slippers.  These are the only slippers that I like and they are ones that I ordered from Eddie Bauer years ago.  Nothing quite like it since- everything I've ordered has been too scratchy or too loose.  When we first took on the guardianship of our dog Jax he ate everything in sight including my slipper.  But I was determined to hold onto these items so I mended them the best that I could.  But every time I put them on I'm reminded of Jax's younger days.

Set my camera at S so that I would only have to change aperture- does that sound right?  Anyway, experimented with changing many things today like white balance, ISO, meter, etc.  I think I finally got a picture that was somewhat representative of the color of the slippers and floor.  But I need to use my tripod more often as it does give me better results.

Thursday's Assignment

Time to revisit a traditional photographic look.  Make a black and white photo with high contrast today.

Decided to use a photo that I had already taken.  The little man and his sister spent the weekend with us.  Seems to take a liking to our piano.  Perhaps he will be the virtuoso that I'm not.  Used the automatic setting for kids and I knew I had to work quickly.  But he was so intense on pressing the keys that I probably could have taken a dozen photos of him.

Wednesday's Assignment

Imagine you've been commissioned to photograph a product for a company's marketing dept.  Give us your best product shot.

No time to blog but here's my picture.  I really need to read the instructions better.  I do that with everything- barely glance at the text and think I get the gist of it.  I thought I was to come up with a new product.  But as I look at other entries that is so not the case.  Some day I'll learn to do better.

Tuesday's Assignment

Look for angles today: 90s, 45s, or any other combination of angles that makes an interesting composition.

I feel like a maniac with this assignment today.  Taking lots of pictures of the exterior of the house- windows, soffit, roof lines.  Even the upper limbs of the trees as they branch out into different angles.  Thought my best photo would be a picture of a quarter of a piece of pizza- but even that wasn't a true angle so I ate it instead.  Looked at the collection of picture frames on my walls but I couldn't isolate the square frames from the round objects unless I took them off of the wall and I wasn't inclined to do that.  But finally, an object with a true 90 degree angle- unless you take a t-square out and line it up.  May be slightly off as it has aged through the years.  And I don't know if the composition is all that interesting but I think I will call it a day.

Monday's Assignment

Set an alarm for a random time today.  Any time.  When it goes off, pick up your camera and find a photo near where you are.

Kept thinking of this assignment all day and wasn't quite sure what I could take a picture of.  Just got home after a great dinner with two great friends.  Had been feeling kind of down lately and they certainly know how to cheer me up.  But when I first read this assignment I thought that I had to set the timer for exactly 10 minutes.  And I knew that the only place I'd be is sitting on my couch, and there aren't many pictures that I could take from my couch.  Luckily, the timer went off just as I was using the computer and figured this was as good a picture as any.  But as I tried to get a close up I kept thinking that I felt like a drunken sailor, pitching from side to side.  Thought I should try to get my tripod so that I could steady the camera but ended up using the back of the kitchen chair.  Picture came out clear enough.  Sharpened up the color with photoshop- always looks good enough in the camera but when I upload it into photoshop it's usually a little too dark.   Don't know why....yet. (As I've said before it's a work in progress!)  Photoshop is really amazing.  When I first uploaded this picture the upper keys had a slight greenish tint to them.  By just adjusting the hue and saturation levels I was able to eliminate most of the green.  Aren't computers great!  Now if only the camera user could figure out how to get the camera to do all that work.  I know it's possible.

Sunday's Assignment

Sunday challenge: It's a new season (Spring up north, Fall down south).  Make a photograph that illustrates the change.

If this had been the assignment yesterday (first day of spring) I might have been taking pictures of snow falling.  So instead I headed out today to look for what little new growth I can find in the yard.  It's freezing so this is the one and only picture that I took.   No fooling around today- used the flower setting on the dial and bam!  That was it.  Too cold to do anything else.

Does make me realize that I have major cleanup to do in the yard.  Fall came quickly last year and didn't get the majority of the leaves picked up.  Hope I can tell the difference between decaying matter and dog crap.

Saturday's Assignment

Liquids can be still and reflective or in motion and chaotic.  Make a photograph of something liquid today.

Don't know if I like how this picture turned out.  Everything seems to be muted.  I tried making some adjustments in photoshop but even those don't help to improve the photo.  The longer it took me to take this picture the faster the bubbles were evaporating.  If I used a flash then the light reflected off of the counter so I tried different angles.  Then I had to deal with shadows.  Every time I looked at the flashing ? it said meter and there were only 3 choices to deal with in meter: matrix, spot and center.  No matter what I changed it to the question mark kept flashing meter meter meter!!!  Dang.  Something else to deal with.  Seriously contemplated changing this to a black and white photo.  Perhaps then you can feel my pain....

Friday's Assignment

Change your angle today.  Make your photo from 1 foot off the ground and post it.

Poor Jax.  I can't tell if he's looking up at me (can you tell that I'm probably not a foot off of the ground?) or if it's the cataracts that are clouding his eyes.  Looked around for something interesting to take and Jax was the closest thing to a foot off of the ground- unless I wanted to take a picture of my feet.  I do think he makes a better subject.  But I feel like I'm regressing with my camera instead of progressing.  I can't remember which way to turn the dial when I'm shooting inside.  I can't get the color right if I'm not using a flash.  And why can't I use manual settings without the flash?  I'm finding that the color is not as true to form as it is when using a flash.  Or is the settings that I have on the camera???

So I resorted to automatic...AGAIN!   I'm going to get this camera thing if it's the last thing that I do.

Thursday's Assignment

Find something that's so old that it's almost timeless and make a photograph of it.

This is not the first picture that I took of something old.  The first thing was a short wave radio that I had been storing for years. It belongs to my brother who picked it up during his stint in the service (I think).  Don't even know why I'm holding onto it other than the fact that I'm probably thinking it's worth big bucks.  Not!!

But it was a boring photo of an old radio.  And then I thought of this pocket watch.  It's tarnished and non-working and belonged to my grandmother.  I don't even know how old it is, other than the fact that she died in the '60s at the age of 70 or 71.  She was a pretty special woman so this pocket watch is obviously the perfect choice for me.  I do so wish I had a macro lens- only because it would have done a better job with this close up.  Amazingly, the photo is relatively clear.  My hands were shaky and I didn't think my regular lens would do that great of job.  Was able to take the photo near the window which allowed me to use manual settings with little fuss.

Wednesday's Assignment

Grab your camera and walk 2 minutes in any direction.  Stop.  Find a photo worth making from where you stopped and post it.

Well....I counted one one hundred, two one hundred, three one hundred and so on and so on until I figured it was about 2 minutes.  I was hoping to see some mallard ducks in the creek but maybe it's too early.  Other than the blue sky there wasn't much I could find in the cookie cutter neighborhood that I live in.  But then I saw this and how could I resist?

Tuesday's Assignment

Today's theme is "3".  Make a photograph that features the number itself or otherwise represents 3 items.

Took me forever to get this picture in focus while holding the darn cards.  First I took a picture of four 3s (because 4 of a kind is better than 3).  Then I realized that I probably should have just held 3 cards in my hand to represent 3 items.  I refused to redo the photograph as it took me so long to get it right. But because I'm anal sometimes, I did redo it- just to show that I can follow directions.  Had a different issue today.  Manuel settings, aperature and shutter speed- okay.  But then my little ? in the viewfinder was flashing and when I checked that it said that I needed to change the flash compensation.  Well, what the heck is that?  Bad enough that I have aperature and shutter speed to figure out.  But flash compensation- it goes from -3 ~ +1.0.  Is that the same as using a flash?  What am I compensating for? How much should I change the settings?  Arg....so confusing.

Monday's Assignment

Trees and plants are great photographic subjects.  Make a photograph of a tree or plant today.

Had I taken a picture of this tree this past weekend it would have been much more interesting.  It had been raining and the tree was glistening on the north side.  I had wondered if it was moss but I think not.  Unfortunately, most of the plants in my backyard are dead...after all it's the end of winter.  I love this tree though because it gives us so much shade.  It's about forty years old- with a notable list toward our house.  I can only think that some year a pretty good gust of wind will send it toppling onto our roof.  

Note the bare area in the middle.  Years ago our dog Jax decided that trees were his mortal enemy and attacked this tree and others with vengeance.  He'd stand on his back legs, teeth bared with bark flying everywhere.  It was the funniest thing but not necessarily good for the trees.  I ended up covering the bottom of the trees with barb wire (just kidding).

The ivy has been growing for the past three or four years.  Every year it grows a little bit taller- but doesn't fill out around the tree.  Maybe this year will be the year......

Sunday's Assignment

Sunday's challenge: Catchlights in the eyes make a portrait sing.  Make a portrait of someone with catchlights in their eyes.

I have to admit that I cheated with this one.  I figured I wouldn't put any photo up today as there was no one around that I would want to take a picture of- today it's only me and hubby hanging around the house.  So instead I chose to use a photo that I took using a point and shoot camera.  I love this picture of E- especially the peas that she has left around her mouth.  Now don't you think her grandma might have cleaned up her face after she ate??

Never heard of the terminology "catchlight".    But now I get it- the way the eye catches the light.  I think I am lucky that she doesn't have the proverbial red eyes that she usually has.

Saturday's Assignment

Curvy, squiggles, and flowing lines interest the eye.  Make a photo dominated by a curvy shape of some sort today.

My son and daughter gave this to me when our first granddaughter was born.  For more reasons than one I will cherish it always.

Friday's Assignment

Electronic gadgets pervade our world.  You've probably got several.  Make a photo of your favorite gadget today.

This is a crazy assignment.  There are just too many electronic gadgets that make our life easy.  You really know that when the electricity goes out.  But I can not live without a sharpened pencil- preferably electric sharpened.  The old fashion pencil sharpeners just don't do it for me.

Thursday's Assignment

"Rules" can be stifling if taken to extremes.  Break the rules today with focus, composition, etc., and see what happens.

So there I am crawling around on the floor trying to get a different view of the bananas.  I know that when my dad would take pictures of fruit and/or vegetables he would pick out the best of the best.  I, of course, just looked around the kitchen and settled on these, and fortunately (or unfortunately) they are not as perfect as they could be.

I don't know what I did to get this bluish tint.  When I looked through the viewfinder the background was what I expected: white, white, white.  My ceiling is white, the hood top over the stove is white, the cupboards are white.  But I got that blurred background that I've been trying to get.  Just wish I knew how I did it.

Wednesday's Assignment

Street scenes capture life on the go, be it a bustling city or quaint village.  Make a photo of a street scene today.

Ah suburbia...notice the garbage cans which have been there several days.  Maybe the wind will be strong enough to send them rolling on their way.  And there are visible shadows- must be that strange orb in the sky they call the "sun."  Haven't seen too much of that lately but it's good to know it's still there.  I did know enough to turn the shutter speed to 1/200th and the aperature to 5.3 or around there.   I still don't know if I am going higher or lower when I chose those numbers but at least I know which way to go.

Tuesday's Assignment

Most of us enjoy some symmetry in our lives.  Look around for it today and make a symmetrical photo.

Are my sandals off centered?  Does it look like one is crooked?  Is that a little of my OCD cropping up?  How can I live in a symmetrical world if these little imperfections make me nuts!!!

Took this using the manual setting-  shutter speed 1/6 and aperature 5.3.  Metering was matrix (?) and ISO 1600.  The actual picture was a little on the yellow side but iphoto and the color correction button corrected that.  I think I'm beginning to get this but don't ask me to explain.

Monday's Assignment

Take care of the Monday's blues by picking up your camera.  Make a photograph dominated by the color blue.

Don't know if I followed this assignment correctly.  As I look at it the green of the counter is detracting from the blue of the cup and plate.  I wish I could figure out how to make the background subdued and the subject concise.  I don't remember what that instructor told us.....me thinks I need a refresher course.

Sunday's Assignment

Sunday Challenge: Make a photo of a sunrise or sunset today.

It's 7:04 a.m.  Just checked today's assignment and realized I'd better get a picture of a sunrise as the clouds may move in soon.  Today's forecast: rain.  But here I am in pajamas, robe, and slippers.  There's no way I am going to get dressed, get in the car, and find some unobstructed view of the sunrise.  It's cold and it's only 7:04 and it's Sunday for god's sake.  So I opt to step outside of my front door and try to get the best view of the sunrise.  I can see the sun, the sky is pretty, but why don't I get the same effect in my photo?  Darn suburbia!

(Side note....mentioned this picture to my husband and he thought I should have had a special filter on my camera as I was shooting directly at the sun.  Maybe I should have but that's one more thing I have to be thinking about).  Arg!

Saturday's Assignment

Lists guide an eye in a linear way: menus, recipes, etc.  As you're out and about today, find a list and make a photo.

My Kindle list looks rather depressing: Girl Who Played With Fire, Dying for Heaven, Crashing Through...  Don't know what the title choices say about me.

Couldn't figure out how to take this photo today.  Kept playing with the manual setting but the pictures were too dark.  Flash reflected in the glass of the Kindle.  Even automatic seems rather dark but not as bad as manual.  Tried to replicate the auto settings but they turned out bluish dark.  Guess this camera thing is still a work in progress.

Friday's Assignment

Food engages all the senses.  Make a photograph of food that causes our mouth to water or pucker.  Get the viewer engaged.

Even though the cupboard is bare I knew we had a jar of pickles in the refrigerator.  All day I kept picturing and planning the photo-  fill up a bowl with these mouth puckering pickles.  Imagine my surprise to find only 4 measly pickles at the bottom of the jar.   Not quite the effect that I wanted.

But you get the idea...

Thursday's Assignment

Striped patterns have a natural pattern that catches the eye.  Find some stripes today and make a photo.

Today, I had a discussion at work about the photo-a-day assignment.  I was thinking about what I might have at home that would constitute stripes, and at first I couldn't think of anything.  My co-worker's take on the photo-a-day is more creative and less literate- like how I could put a row of different colored rulers together and photograph those as stripes. I am not quite as creative nor do I have the time- I would rather look at objects differently and photograph them according to the topic of the day.  For instance, this cookie jar.  I've never thought of it as white and black stripes.  To me it was just an Oreo cookie jar.  But then when I was looking around the house I remembered this jar.... and discovered it works.

And so does this picture....

I will never look at the deck fencing and cookie jar the same.

Wednesday's Assignment

Weathered objects have a lot of character: cracked, rusted, bleached, etc.  Give us your best weathered shot today.

Nothing around the exterior of the house is weathered anymore.  The house has been repainted, the roof has been replaced, the cars have had their rust removed and because we live in the north, bleaching isn't a problem.

This photo explains how I feel anyway- I've had enough of winter and it's time to put that rusted shovel away!!

Tuesday's Assignment

Before

After

Find out what those buttons and dials on your camera do.  Play today!  Try a new setting and make a photo.

It was freezing outside today so no time to experiment with all of the buttons and dials on my camera.  So instead, I fooled around with the menu and changed the filter from normal to red.  There were several different types of filters and I tried them all, but the red intensifier had the most noticeable change.  Any other changes that I would want to make via the menu really had to do with determining the kind of light I was working with...which then means I'd have to figure out shutter speed and light and I was too darn cold.

Monday's Assignment

During the Olympics we saw many images of sports.  Make your own photo of a sports activity,  gear or spirit today.

Well, in the spirit of the everyday golfer I give you this, my husband's trophy.  He's an avid golfer who has given plenty to the sport over the years.  Seeing that I'm not a sport's enthusiast and he is, I could have taken pictures of his golf clubs or the insurmountable pile of golf balls that we have laying around.  You know the old adage, "you never know when you'll need another ball."  But he was so excited when he won this trophy that you would have thought he had won a gold medal.

I couldn't figure out how to make the background less pronounced- especially since I took this picture in my kitchen and the chair and wall behind it cluttered the photo.  I thought that in the class that I took the instructor showed a picture of his wife and the background was somewhat blurred.  He might have perfected that technique in photoshop but I thought he had talked about the settings that he used.  I tried taking a picture using the portrait feature but that didn't change anything.  Hence, you'll notice that the crop feature was used in this photo- which is better than nothing I guess.